Month: October 2016

Remember my last LUSH haul? That was three years ago.Those days of spending my cash on cutesy soaps, bath bombs and glittery shower gels. Occasionally, I also obtained those funky looking soaps from countless swaps I did on a (now-defunct) online swap community; Makeupalley. Ah…fun times!

Melted a little when I received this from the courier guy. Sultana is so regal it can’t take the Malaysian heat LOL!I had a hard time explaining to my little girl that this isn’t a piece of white choc.

Recently, a friend offered to make a LUSH haul from Korea. Of course I jumped at the chance! As much I was salivating over their Christmas ’16 collection, I am at the moment not looking to splurge (Read: can’t afford) on fancy handmade bath products. In the end, I settled for a chunk of Sultana of Soap.

One from their permanent soap collection, I’ve actually tried Sultana a couple of times before. The first time, it was a sample I received from a swap. Second time was a full-sized 100g, which a friend from the States was kind enough to custom-purchase it for me.

Fast forward to now, Sultana feels exactly like I last used it. It’s moisturizing, luxurious, creamy, with heavenly scent that filled my entire bathroom. As the folks at LUSH perfectly put it, this soap gives you a “royally well-fed skin”.

The only downside is, those pieces of dried fruits that I constantly need to pick up after my shower. Since LUSH soaps are handmade, no two chunks of soaps are identical. For this particular Sultana, I happened to get generous amount of dried currants & apricots on top of the soap chunk. If only I could just eat up those dried currants and apricots….(I’m kidding, of course.)

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Guys, take a look at your nails now. Are they shimmer & shine ala diamonds, or as lackluster as stained windows? To most of us, a quick solution for dull nails is to shine them with a buffer block while watching our favourite TV shows. But do you know that buffing blocks contains dry wax? Yes it does the job. Unfortunately the dry wax means it creates an additional layer on your nails, preventing wudhu’ (ablution) water to pass evenly on the surface of the nails.

The idea of “high quality, Syariah compliant nail care range” was conceived by founders Muhammad Hafiz and wife Nur Hanani when they realized that manicure & pedicure services out there lack Muslimah friendly products, specifically products that are solat and ablution-friendly. Hence, Duraneyls was born. Duraneyls Nail Care is a range of high-quality solat-friendly products. One of them is Luv Nail Cleanser (RM58) , which comes with the 23ml cleanser itself, a nail smoother and a cloth buffer. Instructions on how to use them are provided both in English and Bahasa Melayu on the primary as well as the secondary packaging.

1. Luv Nail Cleanser (23ml) 2.Nail Smoother 3.Cloth Buffer

The texture of the cleanser resembles toothpaste, but it isn’t a problem at all to me. Rather, I find the minty-like scent refreshing. I personally like the glittery turquoise Luv Nail Cleanser bottle cap. It adds a glamorous feel. After using these products based on the instructions, this is the result;

It may not shown accurately in these pictures but in reality, my nails are shiny. It’s not the exaggerated shine which you usually get from buffing blocks. Rather, it gives my nails a subtle and healthy-looking shine. Of course, the surfaces of my nails feel slippery and clean too. I also used this on my toe nails and my, how I LOVE the result! They look even better than my finger nails. If you do manicure and pedicure regularly you know exactly how the former usually fades faster due to constant contact with soaps, laundry detergent and whatnot.

All in all, Duraneyls Luv Nail Cleanser is a perfect solution for Muslims who want pretty-looking nails without compromising their belief. Go ahead, perk up your nails and observe your daily rituals such as taking ablution and prayers with ease.

To find out more about Duraneyls and more products from them, go to the official website www.duraneyls.com and also check out their Instagram account @duraneyls .

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The second part of my Moogoo hair care post, this time we are looking at the other half of the duo; Moogoo Cream Conditioner. Months before using this, I noticed that using shampoo alone wasn’t enough for my daughter’s hair. Soon enough, her scalp started sweating and we all know what would happen next. *sigh*

But ever since she uses both the shampoo & conditioner from Moogoo Value Pack almost daily, her hair is noticeably smoother and manageable. In addition, her hair smells yummy too! I usually don’t expect nice scents from eczema-friendly products but I’m so glad this conditioner comes with a lovely, coconut candy-like (?) scent which still lingers hours after my daughter’s bath time. Honestly, I’m not really sure how long the scent could actually stay as my girl is pretty much active, with a scalp that sweats just as soon as I sweat after I have my makeup on. Them genetics. *second sigh*

I tried this product myself too a few times. I’d say it is as effective as any other generic hair conditioners I’ve tried. However due to economical reason, Moogoo Cream Conditioner is reserved exclusively for my daughter. My husband and I still prefer chemicals on our hair, thank you.

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It’s been a little over a week since my last post so I thought, why not some update? I’m currently attending a course which spans over five days. It’s nowhere fancy. Rather, I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere with greens, greens, and more greens. But why complain when you got fun ‘dormmates’ ? They remind me of those fun days of campus life.

The view from my window. 😂Aida’s second appearance on M&M!

I miss my girl terribly.Sobs! This is my first time being away for over four days without her. On the first night I had trouble trying to sleep without her by my side. However it’s a relief to find out how she is easily adapting to be home minus her mama. My parents & husband were great for helping me out while I was away from home.

I have a few reviews coming up soon. I hope you all have a decent week so far. 😊

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Before NAKED, I had been relying on this eye shadow palette which is in the garden by stila. In fact I still do, occasionally. I believe this one is from their permanent collection, as I noticed it has been residing steadily on SEPHORA stila shelf since I bought it in November 2013. (Yes, it is that long I’ve been keeping this pretty palette to myself.)

Close ups of all the 12 shades

My personal favourite is blending moss + juniper. Clearly you can see how ‘dented’ these two shadows are. Oh, of course bark is also frequently applied as a base. Since I am dark-skinned, I usually steer clear of light or pastel hued shades such as chinois and nectar.

Note: Eye primer wasn’t applied underneath these swatches on the back of my right arm.

Since we are on the subject of eye shadows, it reminds of something. To date, almost every makeup tutorial & makeup artists I’ve came across in my life goes by the rule of applying ‘white’ shades in the corner of my eyes. Frankly speaking, I think it’s nonsense. Such technique only makes my eyes appear squinted & smaller. Now, of course there is nothing wrong with squinted nor small eyes. I’m all for natural beauty regardless of whatever size, shape and colour. But my eyes are naturally round and somewhat big so why alter that? Just like how girls with mono-lid eyes are repeatedly reminded by the ‘pros’ to ‘double-up’ their lids. Wha-?

Thank goodness it’s now 2016, when diversity is the current beauty trend. I’m rooting for this trend to stay, are you? 😉

-Mascaras&Motherhood-

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Moogoo shampoo & conditioner combo for RM99.00
For about a year my daughter had been using Buds Everyday Shampoofor her scalp and head. Although the shampoo did a decent job washing both her hair & my makeup brushes, I felt like her hair wasn’t at its best. Her hair occasionally tangled, and she was constantly scratching her head. I wondered if the shampoo was no longer effective as she got older & became more physically active, causing her to sweat more.

So in mid-July when we ran out of shampoo, I took this chance to try another eczema-friendly shampoo. Luckily, the pharmacy I went to had a Moogoo shampoo+conditioner promo pack, plus extra discount for members. Both products came as a pair for RM99.00 , which is a very good deal considering that the shampoo or the conditioner alone normally costs around RM55-RM65.

Moogoo Milk Shampoo

I will review the conditioner in a separate post someday. For now, I’m happy to report that this shampoo is by far the best my girl has tried! The milky and creamy texture of the product lathers just fine. The fluffy, milk-scented foam keeps her entertained during her bathtime. My palms aren’t irritated at all by this product, despite using it almost every day. Yay! Fun time for girl, sting-free hands for mommy.

Below here are the list of ingredients of Milk Shampoo, which I sourced from the website. They even provide description for each and every one of the ingredient. Please excuse the load of images, I find screenshot images easier to read for my personal reference;

Please note:

When it comes to treating eczema, there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ treatment. While this product works wonderfully for my daughter and tons of users out there, it may or may not work for you. I’m well aware how eczema can cause financial constrain, since effective natural-based products are usually expensive.

So I am stressing out here; make an informed decision before you purchase this product. If you aren’t sure whether you are willing to fork out RM55 for a full-sized product that you have never even tried, maybe you could try the samples first. Unfortunately, they don’t offer samples for Malaysian market as far as I’m concerned. Therefore what you could do is, try to ask around in local eczema support groups. Usually, there are bound to be some angels among the members who would sincerely give away second hand products to other members for free. Or to the very least, buy them for a fraction of the full prize.

Are you a Moogoo mania just like us? Let me know what you think if you like or don’t like it.

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So how was September to you? For Mascaras&Motherhood, it was the busiest month to date. As much as I had a great time last month trying out some new products, catching up with my family for a double birthday celebration and working on the blog’s Instagram account (@mascarasandmotherhood) , I am equally excited to welcome October.

To be honest, October is a busy month at work for me. But hopefully, I could squeeze in some time between work and family to keep this blog fresh throughout the month. Meanwhile, here are a couple of #throwback pictures of the last time I went a little crazy over LUSH hauls. Hey, I was heavily pregnant back then and if some LUSH makes me happy, so be it!